Jack B. Yeats
, Irish, 1871-1957
Title
The Gay MoonDate1949
MediumOil on board
Dimensions
23 x 36 cm
Signedlower right: JACK B. YEATS
Credit LinePresented, Mr and Mrs Paddy Brennan, for the Yeats Museum, 1997
Object numberNGI.4636
Label TextIn this enigmatic picture, a man in a brimmed hat closes his eyes to an oversized, full moon, while a silhouetted figure in profile gazes at him from the other side of the canvas. The main figure appears to be in a state of suspended animation, free from thought or concern. This idea calls to mind A Vision (1925), the lengthy explication in which the artist’s brother W.B. Yeats refers to Phase 15, or Sun in the Moon, the Phase of Complete Beauty, when the total illumination of the moon erases the personality entirely.